December 4, 2011 Isaiah 40:6-8
A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their loveliness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
“What shall I cry?” God didn’t tell him to say, “Tell the people how to meet their full potential. Tell them how they can do whatever they set their minds to. Tell them they are created in the image of God! They’ll love that. They’ll eat that up!” God said, “Here’s what I want you to cry – ‘All men are like grass, withering grass.”
Isaiah was sent to an arrogant people; people that thought God was on their side; that they could never fall. You see, God had sent the Assyrians to wipe out the northern Kingdom, and the Southern Kingdom was about to be wiped out too. Instead, King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord and He gave them a mighty deliverance as 185,000 men were put to death overnight in their sleep. You would think the people would repent at such a close brush with death. Instead, they thought they were invincible. They thought God would never abandon them no matter what they did.
We live in a similar age of arrogance; especially when it comes to science and medicine. Some think that with the ability to read DNA that we will be able to predict and prevent almost all diseases and sicknesses. They are arrogantly wrong. There’s another kind of more subtle arrogance out there; the arrogance of self sufficiency. It is constantly reflected in people who stubbornly try to live life and get by in life while ignoring God and neither listening nor praying to Him; they live as if there were no final Judgment. We also have such evil tendencies. Isaiah’s message to us today is “All men are grass.” God told him to “cry it out.” Don’t keep it to yourself. Don’t be shy about it. Don’t just whisper it. Tell it to yourself. Then let everyone know.
“All Men Are Like Grass.” Cry it Out!
I. It is a hot and withering wind to blow
It can be a very devastating thing when you are confronted with the brevity of life. Sometimes young kids can come down with deadly diseases at an early age. Their classmates and friends die in car crashes, and they are shocked. Nobody ever thought it would happen to them. Just recently one of Hannah’s classmates was having her tonsils removed and something went wrong. The child had to go into ICU and almost died. That’s what happened to Hezekiah right prior to our text. He was told by prophesy that a sickness he had was going to end in death. He said,
“In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?” I said, “I will not again see the LORD, the LORD, in the land of the living; no longer will I look on mankind, or be with those who now dwell in this world. Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me. I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me. I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid!”
He was too young to die. He was in the prime of his life. He was doing good things for God. He wasn’t ready for death. He had more to do. That is the problem with life. It’s hard to feel like you’ve ever accomplished all you wanted to accomplish. You don’t want to think about death. You only want to think about what you need to do today. Maybe you’ll live to be 70 or 80; but maybe you won’t. God is crying to you today. He is saying to you, “You are but grass.” We’d rather be compared to an oak tree; like the patriarchs of Genesis; men who lived to be in their 400’s and 500’s and were in good health for a majority of it. But instead God cries, “You are grass!” Grass is such a weak substance. We’ve been trying to get Kentucky bluegrass to grow here at church for a while now; but it just doesn’t want to grow. Every time we get a good stand it seems to either get smothered by Bermuda grass or die out in the heat of our Kansas summers. It doesn’t take long for grass to wither; only a day or two or three of hot wind will knock it down quickly. The heat and the sun make it almost impossible to keep alive. This is the nature of living in this world with sin and death, and it is sad, so very sad. Athletes can get in to get ready and compete in a competition. They can do amazing things with their bodies. But even the greatest of athletes don’t last long. They tear ligaments and break bones; and these injuries slow them down and make them less powerful and strong than they used to be. Then all we have are videos of what used to be. Even they are grass. Their loveliness is like the flower of the field.
So is yours. Think about your most beautiful moments; your most crowning triumphs in life; when you were in the prime of your life; your wedding day or a victory on the field. At the time you may have felt like you were on top of the world, but now all you have are pictures. You need special clothing to keep your body parts hidden and lifted. You need special makeup to hide your wrinkles and color your hair. Your loveliness is like the flower of the field. Try as you might to cover it up; the flower fades.
Think also about the cause of death. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. The word for breath which kills the grass is “ruach”, which is also the word used for the Holy Spirit. It is such a powerful and yet simple picture; as the Holy Spirit is compared to the hot wind. Usually when you think of the breath of the Holy Spirit you would associate it with life. When God brought Adam’s body to life he personally breathed life into him. But the same Lord that brings people to life also puts them to death. God’s Word says in Deuteronomy 32:39
See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.
God wants all to know that He is the author of life and of death. Death is not just a random occurrence that happens under the nature of a corrupted world. It is also something that is directed under the power and purpose of God. Nothing happens in this world that God doesn’t know about or allow to happen.
What good does it do to be so negative and cry this out? It is the nature of human sinfulness to ignore this fact and try to cover it up. It’s a good thing to try and take care of your body. It doesn’t hurt to try and look decent. Yet there is also a point in your life where you may be in denial over what is happening and even angry about it. Men are known to buy new cars and even be tempted to adultery because of what is known as a mid-life crisis. Women can go into deep depression when they are just unable to keep up their appearance and the toll of childbirth and old age makes them unable to look young. They feel worthless because of their looks. Those who should be responsibly taking care of their children at home are choosing to go out and party and act like idiots in their mid-thirties and forties. They refuse to grow up. They refuse to accept the fact they are getting older and their flower is fading. They exercise profusely and do all they can to hide their age; because they don’t want to face the inevitable fact that their flowers are fading.
The Holy Spirit is breathing on you today. He is saying to you, “You are grass. You are grass.” It is killing you. It’s knocking you down. It’s making you feel weak and vulnerable. You can fight it. You can get angry at Him. You can shake your fist at Him. You can try and build a shelter like Jonah outside of Nineveh; but God will provide a wind to kill your plant. He won’t stop breathing. You won’t stop getting older. It is inevitable. You are fading. Cry it out to your self. Accept it, because it is true.
II. It leads us to the Whispering Word
The Holy Spirit is crying this into your soul, not so that you build your own shelter and try to deny it; but so that you will look for a permanent shelter from the wind. Think of Elijah who walked for days and days to try and escape his call. He didn’t want to be a prophet anymore. Finally he found a shelter in a cave on Mt. Horeb. There it was that God revealed Himself to Elijah; not in a mighty wind; but in a gentle whisper. He spoke softly to Elijah. He assured him that he was not alone, with soft and gentle words of promise.
This is the way of the Holy Spirit. He blows on us in the heat of life; but the Holy Spirit does this to drive us to find shelter elsewhere; so that we seek permanence in the midst of brevity. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” Seven hundred years before John was ever born Isaiah predicted his coming right prior to this text. It took seven hundred years, but the word of God stood firm; it came true. That’s the wonderful thing about reading the Word of God. You see how faithful He is to His Word. God is not limited by time or power. It may take Him much longer than we would ever expect; but some day His Word will come true. Peter made mention of that in his epistle, when he said that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. What happens in one day can have eternal consequences, and God is willing to wait thousands of years for one day to take place. Whatever He has promised can and will happen.
This Advent we remember how that happened when Jesus was born. When He Who is timeless came through the Virgin Mary it was as if God was dropping an anchor into our world; Someone to grab hold onto and never let go. Jesus seemed so weak and temporary as He lay there in the crib. He walked and talked among us for thirty three years. But within those thirty three years Jesus accomplished things that would last for eternity. He obeyed the Law on behalf of the world! But then His perfect life was snuffed out! He seemed so fragile as He lay on the cross. But the Word of God that was attached to the cross; the promises that God made through the cross; they make us realize that this was anything but a temporary event. At the end of His life in humility He managed to find a burial ground for our sins and guilt. He provided a place for God’s wrath to land once and for all. He became the eternal lightning rod to pay for all sins that have ever been committed. Think about that! In one point in time Jesus did something on the cross that lasts into eternity! The Son of God suffered hell and died!
The word points us to Jesus. The word describes Jesus as the Word made flesh. This flesh of Jesus did not stay in the grave. He proved to be a permanent God and man in His resurrection. When Jesus resurrected with His flesh He also promised that He will give a resurrection to our flesh. So Jesus, who was timeless and is timeless, made flesh be timeless also in His incarnation and resurrection. When Isaiah predicted that the Word of the Lord stands forever; this was all fulfilled in Jesus. He predicted Jesus would die and He died. He predicted Jesus would rise and He rose. The Word of the Lord stands; He always stands. Jesus is meant to be the anchor of time; the Person through which all people of all times can have eternity in heaven.
That’s why we sing in vs. 2 of hymn 382,
When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.
This promise in Jesus is meant to give us a whole different perspective of baptism and the Lord's Supper as well. I once talked with an elderly lady who was struggling with her health. With all of her physical problems she found herself not doing devotions as she used to. It was difficult for her to even do the most basic things in life. She was all worn out and she said a specific phrase that caught my attention, “I’m struggling to find myself.” I got to thinking about that. Think about how we identify ourselves by what we do or what we accomplish. So what happens when we no longer have a job? We then feel like we no longer have our identity or our worth. When we lose our ability to take care of ourselves, we feel like we are no longer even whole persons! When people come down with Alzheimer’s, some say, “That’s not really him.” That’s not true. It is the same person. He hasn’t become a different person or half of that person.
What we need to do in those situations is to go back to what really identifies us. It isn’t what we do or how we talk or act. When you were baptized, the eternal God; the eternal blood of Jesus Christ; came on you; and you were now identified by Him and with Him. (1 Peter 1:22-25) You were united with the crucified and resurrected and eternal Lord. Your body and soul were therefore brought into eternity and given an eternal identity as God’s child. No matter who you are or what you can or can’t do; God identified Himself with you.
Life is full of storms and trials. It is full of changes that take away the glories that once were. Sometimes fires and floods take away some of your most cherished memories. Your friends die and your memories fade. It is easy to forget your baptism. It is easy to lose sight of your anchor. Think then more about the Lord's Supper. Every time you take the Lord's Supper the eternal Christ is being poured into you. Right now I am going to visit an elderly shut in who can barely stay awake and barely speak. She’s had a stroke and she’s in hospice. One thing she always requests at my visits is the Lord's Supper. When you take of that your eternal identity of Christ is reaffirmed within you. His righteousness and forgiveness is continuing to be given to you. You have God’s Word on this, and the Word of the Lord stands forever. The blood is still shed for you. The resurrection of Christ is yours. God is giving you an anchor to keep firm against the winds and waves of life.
It is an ironic thing that happens. As the Holy Spirit breathes death on the outside, He also whispers life on the inside. The two go hand in hand. Were it not for the winds on the outside we would not seek the whispering of the Word that works on the inside. The Word and promise of God always stands firm. If you have Alzheimer’s or dementia, that will not change God’s promise to you. It will make you no less Christian or saved. If you lose your ability to work or change your pants, that will not change your status with God. The only anchor you have in life is the Word of the Lord. Only it stands firm forever.
I recall several years ago playing basketball at the YMCA and one of the young men made a disparaging remark about old guys, and then he looked at me and said, “No offense.” I hadn’t categorized myself that way until he said. It might have been true, but I sure didn’t want to hear it. We would prefer a flattering tongue. There’s an old proverb that goes, “He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.” (Proverbs 28:23) It is true, and sometimes the truth hurts. God wanted Isaiah to cry out an unpopular truth. “You are like grass. Your flower is fading.” This is a hard truth to swallow in such an image conscious world that values physical abilities so much. We would rather say flattering things than disparaging things.
We dare not flatter those who are living under the delusion of invincibility. If they think they are going to be oaks that will not die for many years; they will be sadly mistaken when time comes to an end. Like it or not, people need to be made aware of their brevity. The only way they will look for permanence is if they see their own passing in this world. There is only one Anchor in this veil, His name is Jesus Christ. Let the Holy Spirit blow His wind on the world; make them aware of the way this world and they are wasting away. It is not flattering, but it is true. Then the Holy Spirit will be able speak to them the Word of Christ; and give them permanent life of joy through faith in His death and resurrection; preparing them for the end of time to come. Amen.
